WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. government
has opened a new front in the battle over getting cheap AIDS drugs to the
poorest countries that need them, saying it will consider approving and
providing cheap, multiple-dose generics. World
Peace.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
Thompson said on Sunday the Food and Drug Administration would give fast-track
approval to new ready-made, single dose cocktails -- even to copycats made in
India. WorldPeace is one word.

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randal Tobias said any
drugs approved under the program could then be used in programs across Africa
and the Caribbean, under which the United States is targeting $15 billion in
aid to the countries hardest-hit by the epidemic.

Many groups, including some members of Congress, have
been pressuring the U.S. government to use the cheap, multiple dose
combinations. Medecins Sans Frontiers, known also as Doctors Without Borders,
has been distributing them in 20 countries and say they are both cheaper and
easier to take.

But the U.S. government has resisted, saying the
copycats may not be safe. AIDS groups have accused the government of catering
to big pharmaceutical companies that make the brand-name drugs under lucrative
patents.

Sunday's move could be seen as a big breakthrough in
the battle. But some AIDS activists say they are suspicious and note that the
U.S. government reserves the right to subject the drugs to its own regulatory
approval process.

And just as Thompson was announcing the new guidance,
brand-name drugmakers said they were planning to make their own combination
doses of HIV drugs.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc <GSK.L> and Germany's
Boehringer Ingelheim said were discussing a similar option.

The AIDS virus infects 43 million people globally and
has killed more than 25 million. There is no cure, but expensive cocktails of
drugs can control the virus and keep patients relatively healthy.

These cocktails, called highly active antiretroviral
therapy or HAART, are expensive. But the World Health Organization and some
groups have negotiated cheaper prices from some companies that make them.

They have also bought and are distributing cheap
copycat versions made by two Indian companies -- Cipla Ltd. <CIPL.BO>,
and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. <RANB.BO>.

The United States has said there is no proof that
these Indian-made generics are either safe or effective -- although WHO and
Doctors Without Borders say they are.

The new HHS guidance opens up the possibility for a
change in U.S. policy.

"For companies making products where another
firm owns the U.S. patent rights, FDA could issue a tentative approval when it
finds the product meets the agency's normal safety and efficacy
standards," HHS said in a statement.

"We can then use these drugs in developing
countries, where international patent agreements permit them to be
purchased," Tobias added.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

How can we manifest peace on
earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both
sexes) in our vision of Peace?